ARCHBISHOP of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia has written to Pope Francis asking him to visit on the feast day of the saint next year.

THE Pope has been invited to Scotland next year to help mark the 400th anniversary of the death of St John Ogilvie.

Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia has written to Pope Francis asking him to consider a one-day visit to the city in March on the feast day of the saint.

The letter has been written "without any expectations or sense of entitlement" and comes only four years after Benedict XVI made a papal visit to Scotland, with mass held in Glasgow's Bellahouston Park.

John Ogilvie was a convert to Catholicism and became a martyr for his faith. He was hanged in Glasgow on March 10 1615 and was made a saint by Pope Paul VI in Rome in October 1976.

Archbishop Tartaglia was present at the ceremony as a young priest and he hopes the 400th anniversary will be a "celebration and renewal of faith".

The letter has been published in the Scottish Catholic newspaper Flourish.

The Archbishop wrote: "It would be wonderful if you could come to Glasgow for a day for this unique event. I would envisage your visit as being of a purely religious-pastoral nature.

Christine Lavelle/PA Wire

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia

"I know that this is short notice for the visit of a Pope. I present this request to you without any expectations or sense of entitlement. I do not even know if it is practical! However, a visit would be such a grace."

Pope John Paul II also visited Glasgow during his papacy, holding the original mass in Bellahouston Park in 1982.

Papal visits usually include years of planning but the Scottish Catholic Church has pointed to a series of short visits by Pope Francis over the last year as hope that he could come to Glasgow.

Archbishop Tartaglia said: "Whether the Pope is able to come or not, I would hope that the anniversary will be a celebration and renewal of faith for the Catholic community, for other Christians, and for all people of faith.

"My thought is to provide a new focus on the figure of St John Ogilvie: his identity as a Scot, his faith journey, his vocation, his priestly ministry, his capture and death, his sainthood and canonisation."